Aiming to remove soilless crop production systems from organic

Added on 13 March 2020

Tags

Aiming to remove soilless crop production systems from organic

US- A coalition of organic farmers, certifiers, and NGOs recently sued the USDA for denying a 2019 petition to prohibit hydroponic operations from organic certification. Plaintiffs include the Center for Food Safety (CFS), OneCert, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and some of the longest-standing organic farms in the US: Swanton Berry Farm, Full Belly Farm, Durst Organic Growers, Terra Firma Farm, Jacobs Farm del Cabo, and Long Wind Farm.

Cornucopia opposes the organic certification of all soilless production, including hydroponic, aquaponic, and aeroponic. Long-term carbon sequestration is not possible without soil. "Organic" hydroponic operations truck in nutrients that are fed to the plants through water. Authentic organic farmers foster the relationships among plants, fungi, and the range of microbial life teeming underground.

Source: Cornucopia
Image source: USDA, Flickr